


Hauntological Perspectives on Lycanthropy

by annieedisongf



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Bad Jokes, F/F, First Kiss, Getting Together, Gratuitous Purple Prose, One Shot, Post-Canon, annie edison deserves an amazing gf ok?, decorum??? idk her, gratuitous ghost metaphors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:33:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27316321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annieedisongf/pseuds/annieedisongf
Summary: In an enshrouded alcove beside the vending machine, a werewolf could be seen sipping strawberry punch, which, to a benevolent eye, resembled blood.It was not a real werewolf, but the elaborate costume Annie Edison had had shipped from Los Angeles could fool a couple of onlookers. She only wished that her humor matched the lupine vigor with the same accuracy the fake claws did. For in that moment, Annie fancied herself a fickle spirit rather than a fleshly predator. In this ghost town of a campus, she was a living creature lingering in Deanth’s doorway, unable to enter, incapable of leaving for good. One of Those Who Got Out And Came Back To Visit, But Stink Of The Past Way Too Much For It To Be A Simple Catabasis. A ghost no longer and yet more of a ghost than ever. The ghost Annie had become was of a warped, upside-down kind, one that only Greendale could concoct.OR: Annie takes a short break from Washington to visit Greendale for a Halloween party, where an unexpected reunion awaits her.
Relationships: Annie Edison/Rachel (Community)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 8





	Hauntological Perspectives on Lycanthropy

**Author's Note:**

> this is a little thing i did for a tumblr prompt "a kiss at a party because of a bet" sent to me by @withatalentforsquaddrill! thank you <3

During the whole of a dark night, cheap and cheerful fairy lights cast an empurpled orange glow over the Greendale Community College cafeteria. During the whole of a soundless night, the music blaring from the dated speakers invigorated a large portion of the attendees to the melting point of singing and dancing, while the more reluctant loudly debated the relevance of Laura Brannigan. During the whole of a dull night, the campy decorations served to render the environment succinctly and gratifyingly grotesque. Crumpled garland bats loomed over the trays of plastic eyeballs which the unfortunate ones had mistaken for finger food. A masked man calling himself “The Deansaw Killer” blazoned abroad the campus’s imminent, if transient, transformation into an escape room, scheduled to begin at midnight.

And, in an enshrouded alcove beside the vending machine, a werewolf could be seen sipping strawberry punch, which, to a benevolent eye, resembled blood.

It was not a real werewolf, but the elaborate costume Annie Edison had had shipped from Los Angeles could fool a couple of onlookers. She only wished that her humor matched the lupine vigor with the same accuracy the fake claws did. For in that moment, Annie fancied herself a fickle spirit rather than a fleshly predator. In this ghost town of a campus, she was a living creature lingering in Deanth’s doorway, unable to enter, incapable of leaving for good. One of Those Who Got Out And Came Back To Visit, But Stink Of The Past Way Too Much For It To Be A Simple Catabasis. A ghost no longer and yet more of a ghost than ever. The ghost Annie had become was of a warped, upside-down kind, one that only Greendale could concoct. 

Her friends, warm, welcoming, and familiar as they were, could not help flaunting their belonging, so starkly contrasting with her lack thereof.

_“The Nippledippers are more competent than ever!”_

_“Don’t worry, Annie, we’ve taken care of everything.”_

_“No, Jeff’ll deal with the Leonard situation. You just relax and have fun.”_

They meant her kindness, but she just felt unseen and unheard, the last remnant of her agency flushed away along with Leonard’s Monster Fight Ring pamphlets. What was a ghost to do when her unfinished business consisted solely of seeking out businesses to finish?

One option was to stay here and keep seeking, until seeking turned to begging, until begging turned to screaming, until screaming turned to never moving.

The other option was to cease with the ghosting and return to the unhomely present of Washington D.C. as planned. To give up the promise of domesticity in favor of something she would most likely never learn to love.

Luckily, potentially life-changing decisions could wait. For now, she decided to do what she had always done best – leave the party early.

Her friends were nowhere to be seen, but she could picture them clearly in her mind: Britta and Jeff in the teacher’s lounge, most likely Canoodling; Shirley in the kitchen, attending to her duties as the chef of catering; Dean trying to secure an Intro To Livin’ It class, run by one of his weekend raves friends; Frankie trying to stop the dean; Chang… Well, Annie couldn’t possibly predict Chang’s behavior, but he must have been there somewhere. The point was that there was no point in gathering them all in one place just to announce her departure. She would send a text. 

Clinging to the walls and desperately hoping the asbestos had not reclaimed its rightful place within them, she managed to reach the coat check unnoticed. It felt odd to be invisible, not to seek contact when her condition had turned so elusive. It had been a long time since the need for solitary suffering had come upon her, but that’s the thing about reverse ghosts; they do not want their sorrows perceived.

“Annie?” A voice coming from the deep ends of the coat check shook her out of her reverie. At first, she had trouble locating the exact source of it, as any trace of personhood seemed to have disappeared in this vast array of outerwear. But, after a couple of seconds, a patch of fur began to distinguish itself. And after a couple more, a full-fledged figure could be discerned. What stood before her was a werewolf with a familiar face. Not a real werewolf.

“Oh my god, Rachel?” Annie said. She couldn’t help but think that the level of surprisement in her voice did not do the situation justice. Rachel in Greendale was not an odd sight in itself, but Rachel in Greendale sighted by Annie, Her Ex’s Best Friend? For the first time in about a year? During Annie’s rapidly progressing identity crisis? There was really nothing to say that would not make the situation unbearably awkward. And yet, for some inexplicable reason, Annie found herself wanting to start talking. “ _Hii_... I didn’t even know you worked the coat check! There was a different girl when I first came in.”

“Oh yeah, she left. She looked pretty happy.” Rachel said, fiddling with the hem of one of the coats. “And the coat check is legit now, so I get an actual salary and everything. It’s pretty great, not relying on just tips. And no longer having to wear all these coats at once when the dean passes by so I don’t get caught.” She added in a deadpan voice but threw in a smile. An uneven one, a sort of smirk-but-not-really, one that showcased the perfect balance of soft and smug.

Before Annie could stop herself, she broke into a fit of laughter. What in the world was going on with her? It wasn’t even that funny. She needed to pull herself together and let that weird, weird night end at last.

In a moment.

“Well, and what’s going on with you? I don’t think we’ve seen each other since Abed and I broke up. Are you still at Greendale?” Rachel said, gracefully ignoring Annie’s humiliating display of… what, exactly?

“Oh, no, just visiting. I live in D.C. now. It’s cool. Super cool. Working for the F.B.I, so, you know. Cool.”

“Cool.” Rachel turned away from the coats and started leaning on the counter ever so slightly, shortening the distance between them. Was it always so hot in this costume? “So, you’re just visiting, and you want to leave so early? Before the dean’s _very_ promising Saw-inspired game?”

“Hah. Yeah.” Annie responded, swallowing hard. She should dismiss the question. Change the subject. “I don’t know, I guess I’ve been feeling… kind of useless here? I keep asking my friends if they need any help, and they keep telling me to… _relax and have fun_.” She accentuated the last part with an expression of pure disdain.

“Have you tried, you know… Relaxing and having fun?”

“I would love to, believe me! I just… don’t really know how. It doesn’t feel right for Greendale not to be… a challenge.”

“Hmm…” Rachel’s lips laced up tightly. It made Annie feel… something. “What if we _did_ make it into a challenge? Like… I bet you a dollar that you won’t be able to relax and have fun tonight!”

Annie almost gasped, both at Rachel’s ingenuity and at Rachel’s nerve. _Now she will see who can relax and have fun._

“Okay.” She said. “Well then, let’s address the big bad wolf in the room.”

“Oh, yeah, this is awkward.” Rachel tittered. “One of us is gonna have to change back to her human form.”

“I challenge you to a full moon duel. Let our howls be heard!” Annie bared her fake fangs and assumed a fighting stance, stifling a laugh in the back of her throat. “May the true alpha prevail.”

Rachel giggled again, louder this time and quickly schooled her expression into one of unwavering severity. “Good to see you haven’t lost your fighting spirit. Unfortunately for you, it will not be enough.”

For a short while, they stood there, as if waiting for a flag to drop, but then Annie let out a battle cry and jumped over a counter to faks-attack. Rachel answered her with a growl of her own and gracefully dodged the first almost-blow, biting the air combatively. Annie’s right hand-paw flew to pretensies-strike Rachel’s side, while Rachel’s leg slided swiftly to not-really-sweep Annie off her feet.

They stood there for a couple of solid minutes, fake-fighting but feeling real and _having fun_. Neither of them betrayed signs of exhaustion, and neither of them seemed ready for the showdown to end. And it probably wouldn’t have, if Annie’s attempt at a somersault had not failed miserably, causing her to fall flat on the forest clearin– _coat check floor_ , with Rachel under her.

The howls and the barks quieted momentarily, and all Annie could focus on was Rachel’s short, shallow breaths springing across her own face. Rachel’s dark, tender eyes, in which the warrior spark still flickered. Rachel’s rosy lips parting minutely, exposing what’s gentle in a flash of teeth.  
_Oh._

“You know…” Rachel said quietly, dropping her gaze from Annie’s own. “If we were _really_ two equally powerful werewolves fighting for the highest rank, this would be the moment where we’d kiss, thus bringing an end to our enemies-to-lovers storyline.”

Annie felt her eyes widen, a sign of her mind both reeling at the possibilities and staggering from the weight of them. This was a bad idea. This was the worst idea ever, so why did it feel like the best one, the _only_ good one? She couldn’t do this. She wanted to do this. She didn’t know how to do this.

Struggling to regain her ability to speak, she cleared her throat, let her eyes close and flutter open, and took a deep breath, the first one in a while that seemed to matter, that seemed to be real. “I bet myself a million dollars I couldn’t kiss you right now.”

And when their lips came together, Annie had no idea if what she was experiencing counted as a kiss of life or a kiss of death, but in that moment, she couldn’t bring herself to care.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading <3 you can find me on tumblr @werewolfannie
> 
> also i think i'm gonna do an entire lesbiannie series bc i have a lot of thoughts and feelings about that so... there may be some loose ends that will get tied up in the future
> 
> ALSO there may be some loose ends that will NOT get tied up, because they're a result of a fit of writing frenzy, much like this entire fic, so i apologise in advance shkjbdigf


End file.
